INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AS COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE - THE ROLE OF HUMAN, BUSINESS, AND TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES

This paper investigates linkages between information technology (IT) a nd firm performance. Although showing recent signs of advance, the exi sting IT literature still relies heavily on case studies, anecdotes, a nd consultants' frameworks, with little solid empirical work or synthe sis of findings. This paper examines the IT literature, develops an in tegrative, resource-based theoretical framework, and presents results from a new empirical study in the retail industry. The findings show t hat ITs alone have not produced sustainable performance advantages in the retail industry, but that some firms have gained advantages by usi ng ITs to leverage intangible, complementary human and business resour ces such as flexible culture, strategic planning-IT integration,and su pplier relationships. The results support the resource-based approach, and help to explain why some firms outperform others using the same I Ts, and why successful IT users often fail to sustain IT-based competi tive advantages. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.